Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Impatiens walleriana cultivar Cameo Coral.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Double Impatiens plant, botanically known as Impatiens walleriana, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name xe2x80x98Cameo Coralxe2x80x99.
The new Impatiens is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Cartago, Costa Rica. The objective of the breeding program was to develop new compact and mounded Double Impatiens cultivars with large fully double flowers, excellent branching, and interesting flower and foliage colors.
The new Impatiens originated from a cross made by the Inventor of two proprietary selections of Impatiens walleriana, not patented. The cultivar Cameo Coral was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a flowering plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Cartago, Costa Rica.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by terminal cuttings taken at Cartago, Costa Rica, since March, 2001, has shown that the unique features of this new Impatiens are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Cameo Coralxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Cameo Coralxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, mounded and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Rapid growth rate.
3. Freely branching habit.
4. Rounded green-colored leaves; densely foliated.
5. Freely flowering habit.
6. Fully double flower form.
7. Large dark orange-colored flowers that are positioned above and beyond the foliage.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Cartago, Costa Rica, plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the parent selections primarily in flower form and coloration.
The new Impatiens can be compared to the Impatiens walleriana cultivar Balfiecobl, disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 11,859. However, in side-by-side comparisons conducted in Lompoc, Calif., plants of the new Impatiens differed from plants of the cultivar Balfiecobl in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Impatiens were more mounded and outwardly spreading than plants of the cultivar Balfiecobl which were more upright in plant habit.
2. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger leaves than plants of the cultivar Balfiecobl.
3. Plants of the new Impatiens had larger flowers than plants of the cultivar Balfiecobl.